… Say €77,500 Paid As Kidnap Ransom For 91 Victims In North West
A number of stakeholders following trends in politics and security in Nigeria in the build up to the 2023 general elections, are still doubtful of the possibility of a hitch free exercise, going by latest research assessing the feasibility of conducting the elections without major impediments.
The independent research jointly undertaken by Dr. Ben Nwosu, an Associate Consultant at Nextier SPD; and Dr. Ndu Nwokolo also a Managing Partner and Chief Executive at Nextier SPD, observed that a fair democratic election is one held in an atmosphere free of mortal dangers and free from vote rigging.
They however, observed that the approaching general elections of 2023 in Nigeria continue to warrant concerns due to the kind of insecure environment in which it is likely to take place.
Buttressing their findings, they say the country’s North East remains a troubled spot with terrorist killings by Boko Haram and the Islamic States in West Africa Province (ISWAP) even though Nigerian authorities claim that they have been weakened.
Citing a UN report of April 2022, the researchers said terror groups still carry out armed attacks, rape and robbery against vulnerable groups in the North East. Including the North West which has become another living anarchy based on the activities of deadly bandits who rob, rape, kill and kidnap.
“A 2021 report on banditry in the North West recorded 2,735 stolen animals, 91 victims of abductions and payment of over €77,500 in ransom by the abductees’ families and friends. Also, in the first quarter of 2022, 76 incidents were reported in the region, including rape, assaults, cattle theft and kidnappings.
“At the moment, the condition is not abating. The North Central is besieged by terrorists, ethnic militias and bandits. In the first quarter of 2022, the North Central had its share of terrorist killings, with a total death of 16 persons. South West Nigeria is not spared from violence with the recent massacre of worshippers in Owo, Ondo State.
“Kidnapping remains rife in the South-South and South East of Nigeria, and the additional weekly lockdown imposed by different factions of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Some of these groups target the facilities of the election management body”, the Nextier SPD quoted the UN.
According to the authors, the Nigerian state appears helpless in the face of this security decline and relates with the increasingly impetuous non-state armed groups from a position of weakness.
They lamented that sadly, the state pays ransom to release kidnapped citizens, as supported by several and even the latest revelation in a BBC documentary which reports that the Government paid ₦60,000,000 before the nearly 300 school girls kidnapped in 2021 in Jangebe Zamfara State were released.
The report equally noted that these developments, which have only gotten worse with the approach of the election year, prompt worries about the security preparedness of the Government for the elections.
It observed that the continuing decline of the ability of the state to repel security challenges under a condition where terrorists, bandits and separatists contest the sovereignty of the state prompts worries that the state appears unprepared in the security sense for the presidential and other imminent national elections.
The independent research however identified hubs where insecurity needed to be addressed promptly prior to the elections to include the North West which is so troubled by banditry that a traditional ruler in Zamfara State, the Emir of Yandoto invited a bandit leader with a history of multiple killings and attacks on the communities and invested him with a traditional honour.
Nextier also noted that a breakaway terror group from Boko Haram called Ansaru is holding sway in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, where it discovered that the Ansaru terror group has begun to inter-marry with community members and also recruit new members from the community.
It noted that Ansaru has in addition, banned all political activities in Birnin Gwari Emirate. Also, in July 2022, bandits were as daring as to attack a presidential convoy around Dusinma in Katsina State, though without success. But there is neither a report of human losses on the side of the bandits nor subsequent arrest.
“In the North Central, 30 soldiers and 7 policemen were killed in a terrorist ambush on the 29th of June 2022 at Shiroro, Niger State. Also, in July 2022, terrorists successfully attacked the Kuje correctional centre in Abuja and freed over 600 inmates.
“Further, Boko Haram terrorists carried out a twin attack in the later part of July 2022 on the presidential guard team along Bwari-Kubwa road in Abuja and another at the Zuma Rock military checkpoint in the precinct of Abuja, which resulted in the death of six soldiers. Besides, there is a standing threat from the terrorists that they will kidnap governor El Rufai of Kaduna State and President Buhari.
“In the South West of Nigeria, Amotekun continues to intercept persons considered invaders as they move in droves into the region. While the mission of these persons is unknown, the recent terrorist attack in Ondo State, the first of worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church Owo in June 2022, led to several deaths.
“Also, another attack on a construction site which also led to some deaths is another reason for apprehension in the zone. Further in Southern Nigeria, the South East is a troubled spot as secessionist groups’ almost one-year imposition of lockdown every Monday remains successful.
“Efforts by the people to return to normal activities on Mondays have resulted in deadly attacks by criminals. The state fails to show the capacity to protect people if they come out on Mondays. Thus people remain in their homes on Mondays due to fear. Equally, as the 2023 elections approach, facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and even its personnel come under periodic attacks.
“Several reports of voter registration exercises disrupted in parts of North and South Nigeria without any reassuring state response. Equally, several reports of kidnapping in the South East result either in the murder of victims or release after payment of ransom, with only a few instances of law enforcement success against kidnappers.
“South-South is just as troubled as other parts of the southern region. Recently, a militant leader, Asari Dokubo, openly walked round the streets of Port Harcourt with his fighters armed with sophisticated automatic weapons. Besides that act of brazen and open show of military force by a private individual, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, alleged that the state had obtained intelligence that some politicians were recruiting cultists, ex-convicts and thugs for the forthcoming 2023 elections.
“The above general picture of Nigeria’s security environment in the 2023 general elections holds potential for far-reaching implications for the democratic process and even national stability,” the independent assessment by the experts gleaned.
As a way of proferring solutions to the current impasse, Dr. Nwosu and Dr. Nwokolo said the federal government should carefully examine the sources of her security flaws regarding manpower capacity and technical resources and invest the effort to remedy them.
They also insist that government should deploy heavily in the communities where the terror groups have gained ground, including using the police and other armed services to harness the services of non-state security outfits, especially the vigilantes, to support security provisions during the elections.
In addition, government must enhance security around the country, stressing that it is important that the armed services also have an internal intelligence system for detecting moles within their fold.
According to the erudite researchers, “the current security environment in Nigeria is disturbing. The tendency to get worse is quite high as the country prepares for a major election in the next six months.
It does not appear that the preparation for the election sufficiently factors in new dimensions of security threat in the country and the specific attacks on electoral institutions. The election may end up derailed or not taking place in several places if the spate of security challenges is not consciously and systematically brought to a stop”.
